School Loans | Hot Topic: DREAM Act

December 11, 2010 – 4:15 am

The DREAM Act has been a dream for years. It’s come up again and again on Capitol Hill and a version of it has been debated in Connecticut (where it passed in 2007 and was vetoed by Gov. Jodi Rell).

At the federal level, the DREAM Act ” or the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act ” has not passed either the House or the Senate, though it has been debated often.

Now, with a Democrat entering the governor’s office and only weeks remaining on a Democrat-controlled Congress, does the DREAM Act have a chance of passing?

What would the DREAM Act do?

There are two DREAM Acts: One in Connecticut and one in Washington, D.C.

The act in Connecticut is less expansive than the federal one. The federal one would give some young undocumented immigrants a good chance at becoming U.S. citizens after completing two years in college (with in-state tuition) or the military.

The federal bill would apply only to immigrants who were age 15 or younger when they came to the U.S., have been in the country for at least five consecutive years before the bill passes and have a U.S. high school diploma or its equivalent and have “good moral character,” which is widely interpreted to mean a clean arrest record. The bill would only help immigrants up to age 35.

The bill is designed to help immigrants who came to this country with their parents, since many undocumented children didn’t have a say in the decision to move here.

Because Connecticut can’t offer citizenship to anyone, Connecticut’s version of the DREAM Act is stripped down. Here, the bill would give in-state tuition rates at colleges and universities to all Connecticut residents who graduate from high schools in the state, regardless of their immigration status. Eleven states already do this.

Undocumented immigrants must currently pay out-of-state tuition, which is significantly higher and acts as a barrier to higher eduction.

In-state tuition at the University of Connecticut, for instance, is $8,000. Out-of-state tuition is more than $24,000. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for state or federal loans, which usually help defray those costs.

Why does that matter?

An estimated 12 million immigrants are in the country illegally. That means they may work under the table and don’t pay state or federal taxes (although, of course, they do pay sales tax). They live in the shadows, as it were, and are easy targets, because reporting crimes may risk deportation. It also means they aren’t given opportunities, like the chance to get an affordable education at a state university.

Their chance at higher education is important to Connecticut’s future: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Connecticut has a fast growing population of aging Baby Boomers (between 2000 and 2030 retirees are expected to grow by 69 percent) and a comparatively small number of young U.S.-born workers. But the immigration population is growing quickly and is expected to boost the number of young, employable adults. Between 1990 and 2000, Connecticut’s foreign-born workforce (age 18-64) grew by 40 percent, according to Census figures.

Making sure the state’s future workforce has a chance at higher education is important, says state Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “We’ve been worried about brain drain in Connecticut and this is a way of keeping young people here,” Looney says. “If people go to college here, they’re more likely to stay here. And it will increase the number of taxpayers, because they will be better equipped to get decent jobs if they get a higher education.”

Lorella Praeli, 22, is one such ambitious undocumented student. A senior at Quinnipiac University, Praeli is double majoring in political science and sociology. She’d like to go on to graduate school and get a law degree or a PhD in sociology.

Praeli calls herself a “dreamer,” meaning she’s one of many undocumented students across the country lobbying for this legislation.

She’s from Peru and moved to New Milford around the age of 10.

“All us dreamers are no less American then our documented peers. … We’ve been raised here, this is the country I call my home,” she says.

If this national and state-level legislation passed, Praeli would have an easier time finding a job because she’d be on the path to citizenship. And, she could afford to go on to graduate school. Currently her education is being paid for through private scholarships.

It’s estimated that hundreds of students across the state could benefit from Connecticut’s version of this bill annually. But since undocumented immigrants still wouldn’t be eligible for state or federal school loans, it’s hard to know how many could afford to pay for in-state tuition.

On a federal level, the DREAM Act is a first step in fixing the country’s broken immigration system.

What’s the argument against the DREAM Act?

In 2007, when she vetoed the bill, Gov. Rell issued a press release explaining her do-nothing logic: “I understand these students are not responsible for their undocumented status, having come to the United States with their parents,” she said. “The fact remains, however, that these students and their parents are here illegally and neither sympathy nor good intentions can ameliorate that fact.”

The 2007 bill required students to sign an affidavit promising that they would seek to legalize their status as soon as possible. Rell said that filing to legalize their status would notify the government that they’re here illegally.

“I am sympathetic with the goals of this bill and with the needs of the students the bill seeks to help. But since the underlying issues are a matter of national concern and need to be addressed by the Congress, the most prudent course for the State of Connecticut is to wait for resolution at the federal level,” the Governor said.

Would this impact the budget deficit?

The right-leaning Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) estimates that roughly 1 million undocumented immigrants could enter universities and community colleges if the DREAM Act passes. That would cost the nation about $6.2 billion, CIS claims.

Since the DREAM Act would not provide funding to cover tuition costs, CIS estimates, “the act’s passage will require some combination of tuition increases, tax increases to expand enrollment or a reduction in spaces available for American citizens at these schools,” according to a recently released CIS memo on the subject.

Sen. Looney disagrees. He thinks it may even increase revenue in Connecticut.

“They will be paying tuition,” he says. “You can argue it will increase revenue because you’ll have more people going [to school] without [financial] aid.”